Trending

COLUMN: Don't take your fans for granted

Only Time Warner subscribers were able to watch the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw pitch against Oakland Monday. (Photo: The Associated Press)

Many opinions, no waiting:

-- Nancy Nelson of Hemet is a Dish Network subscriber. She exemplifies the helplessness currently felt by Dodger fans who donât have Time Warner Cable, and thus donât have access to The Blue Network (aka Time Warner Cable SportsNet LA).

âWhat can we do to get our Dodgers back on TV?â she asked in an email. ââŚI have called Dish and they say they will send my complaint on. However, I doubt that happening.

âI am an âold ladyâ from Hemet and look forward to Dodger games. Many of my friends are the same; we feel betrayed and helpless. Radio is not the same, but will that have to do? I certainly would pay Dish extra to get the games.â

Stan Kasten, are you paying attention?

This is your fan base that youâre messing with. It may not be the portion that plunks down big bucks for premium seating and Dugout Club memberships. But by taking their passion for granted youâre sending a dangerous message âŚ and itâs not âcall your local cable/satellite operator.â

-- Those who are tempted to sign up for the âExtra Inningsâ cable package or âMLB.TVâ Internet streaming package as a workaround? Donât bother. Home team telecasts are blacked out on both services â in a cruel bit of irony, to protect local broadcast contracts.

-- As weâve noted before in This Space, those who do not have a pay TV service â almost 750,000 homes in Los Angeles alone, according to an LA Times estimate â are disenfranchised by the continuing removal of events from free TV. The interesting demographic breakdown, which we havenât run across yet, would be what percentage of those homes canât afford cable/satellite and what percentage have cut the cord because they donât want to pay for what they donât watch.

-- But this genie isnât going to be stuffed back into the bottle, as Paul Swangard, managing director of the University of Oregonâs Warsaw Sports Marketing Center, put it in a 2012 interview.

âThis is all predicated on the fact that even though fans can and will complain an awful lot about this stuff, theyâre still willing to pay when the pay wall is put in front of them,â Swangard said. âYou canât necessarily blame broadcasters and teams for saying that if people are willing to pay, they might as well take advantage.â

-- A sizable segment of Padres fans can relate, considering they missed two full seasons of telecasts before Time Warner and Fox Sports San Diego finally struck a deal last month.

Then again, itâs Dodger fans being shut out, so their sympathy figures to be limited.

-- Our suggestion that this region should pursue the soon-to-be-sold-and-rebranded Chivas USA struck a chord with Riverside city councilman Andy Melendrez, who said he had discussions with Chivas part-owners Antonio and Lorenzo Cue before they were bought out by Jorge Vergara last year. He said he still has contact with people in the organization, which is now owned and run by Major League Soccer.

âWhen we at least try to engage, that elevates the visibility of who we are as the Inland Empire,â Melendrez said. âIâd definitely like to throw our name into the hat so weâd be part of the conversation, or at least be involved.â

After all, they wonât notice if you donât let them know.

-- Hall of Famer Lindsay Davenport. That sounds really good.

-- And the best part? The Murrieta Valley High graduate, part of the International Tennis Hall of Fameâs five-member class of 2014 announced Monday, reached the top without obsessive parents pushing her in that direction.

âI found tennis by accident,â she said on a conference call Monday. âI had two parents who were athletic but involved in other sports. They didnât pretend to know much about the sport. They didnât try to coach me. They just tried to support me as athletic parents.â

Join the conversation

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to allow Freedom Communications, Inc. the right to republish your name and comment in additional Freedom publications without any notification or payment.